Dad: “Look both ways before crossing the street”

Me as a child: “But this is a one-way street”

Dad: “You look both ways because people are idiots”

Immediately put things away once you’re done with them, otherwise they start piling up.

In shared spaces when you’re cleaning up/tidying/whatever, do one more thing than just your own things, no less, but also no more than that. Everybody forgets to do some of the shit they’re supposed to deal with sometimes so it’s probably your own crap anyways or compensates for that, but don’t go clean up everything that others leave out/unfinished or you risk becoming the person who’s always cleaning up after others.

No one is thinking about you as much as you are

Regarding marriage and relationships

I saw a reddit thread many years ago before I met my wife asking for advice from long-time couples.

I was single at the time, and was pretty comfortable with that, not that I wasn’t interested in being in a relationship, but it wasn’t a priority for me and I never had much luck picking up girls.

Most of it was the usual stuff about communication, and sharing housework, respect, and all of that.

But the one that stood out to me was

“Don’t forget to date your wife”

A good many years later, I managed to stumble my way bass-ackwards into dating my now-wife. A few years later we were married.

And for a lot of couples, dating kind of slows down at that point. One or both of them stop putting in effort, and they just kind of stagnate and drift apart.

That’s far from the only reason relationships fail of course, but I think that’s a bigger part in a lot of cases than many people think.

So I always keep my ear to the ground for cool events, restaurants, shows, places to go, things to do, etc. and make sure that there’s always something coming up on the horizon for us to look forward to. Sometimes it’s a simple dinner at a restaurant we’ve been to countless times, sometimes it’s a big elaborate day out where we get dressed up, find our way to a couple different nice bars and restaurants, walk around a museum, see a show or to an orchestra performance, etc.

I try to have at least one thing planned a month, not always successfully, but more often than not, and we sometimes squeeze in another little spontaneous date night or two here and there. Most of the time we’re out doing something fun as a couple at least once a week.

Don’t give more information than you need to when talking to authority.

Late to work? Say “sorry I’m late”. Don’t give a reason unless asked. Need to take a day off? Say “I’m taking Friday off” or “I am taking a sick day”. Unless asked for a reason don’t explain further.

Stopped by a cop for speeding? Answer plainly with one word sentences. “Do you know why I stopped you?” “No.”

People often dig themselves holes by offering too much information when simple information would have been sufficient. I’ve seen it happen in real time, where a coworker was denied time off because of the death of a pet because the boss didn’t think that was reason enough to take time off, when the coworker could have just said “family emergency” and explained no further.

Its a great little piece of advice that has served pretty well over the years.

Cut your nails after a bath or shower as they will be softer and cut smoother

Death doesn’t care if you had the right-of-way

Don’t make promises when you’re happy; don’t make decisions when you’re sad.

“Be excellent to each other”

There’s one piece of advice I got from a Mickey mouse comic of all places. When I was a kid I read this Mickey mouse comic where he gets kidnapped and has to escape, but it’s cold outside and he doesn’t have any clothes, so he wears a mattress for warmth. Everyone laughs at him, but he keeps thinking something like “as long as I’m warm, they may laugh at me”, and for some reason that piece of advice stuck with me forever.

“Don’t shit where you eat.”

Invest in your education first because nobody can take it from you.

Buy the crappiest reliable car you can stand to be seen in. (If you need a car at all)

Invest in a house as soon as you can. Buy the crappiest house in a nice neighborhood.

These have helped me treat a Depreciating asset (like a car) purely as a tool for utility and helped me recognize that a nice car is ego on display. For me it applied to computers and cameras too. I could definitely afford to drive a nicer car and I’ve learned to turn the pang of shame in parking my crappy old beater next to my BILs’ hot cars into a trigger of self assurance: “I’m living by my internal values” … “damn right!”

“If you don’t care about yourself, noone else will”.

I still struggle with that, but the advice itself is solid.

Do not point out things to someone when they can’t fix them right now. For example, don’t tell me I have a stain on my jumper when we are out in the office with no change to fix it. I will remain conscious about it the rest of the day.

Another was misunderstandings are the norm not an exception. They are happening just as often as successful communication.

Don’t drink your calories. Changed my life completely and put me on a path to losing 35 Kgs.